Development of a broadband coplanar waveguide-to-microstrip transition with vias

A transition from coplanar waveguide (CPW)-to- microstrip with vias is often used in wafer-probe measurements. This paper shows how field and impedance matching are used to develop a wideband transition. This paper demonstrates how the presence and placement of the vias affect the bandwidth and alters the impedance of the transition. The measured results on a transition show that a wideband transition with return loss better than 10 dB and an insertion loss less than 1.5 dB up to 36.64 GHz is obtained. The measurements show excellent agreement with simulation. The work presented in this paper provides a better understanding about a CPW-to-microstrip transition with vias as well as design procedures and principles that can be utilized to facilitate the realization of a broadband CPW-to-microstrip transition with vias.